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Orange County Hostage Negotiator Brought In On Christmas

(MARENGO) - For most families, Christmas is a time to share, be with family, exchange gifts and be merry. However, for one Orange County family, Christmas involved guns, police and a hostage scare.

State Police Jasper say 49-year-old Charles Shelton got involved in a domestic situation Christmas morning where police allege he got into a physical altercation with his wife over their 3-year-old daughter, and threatened her with a knife and muzzle loading rifle.

The wife was able to get out, but ended up leaving the little girl behind with the father. When troopers arrived, they couldn't make contact with Shelton at first and didn't know his or his daughter's whereabouts, so they brought in a hostage crisis negotiator who eventually got a hold of the man.

Shelton was eventually arrested without incident on felony charges of domestic battery, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and child neglect and was housed in Orange County jail.

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